Technological advances in the telecommunications and computer-related industries have provided cell phones, web phones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), hand held computers, laptop computers, and other portable devices that allow for instant communication and remote access to information. These portable devices generally have proven to be very beneficial because they allow people to stay connected wherever they are.
For example, laptops are great for remotely accessing information on another computer or network (e.g., the Internet) and sending/receiving email messages, in addition to their primary function as portable information processors. However, they have to be connected to a phone (or cable or other) jack, and they tend to be rather bulky, heavy, and expensive. Therefore, laptops are not ideal for carrying around on a routine basis (relative to cell phones) for instant communication and remote access to information.
On the other hand, cell phones are small, light weight, and convenient to carry around, relative to laptops. In an effort to realize the full potential of both the Internet and wireless connectivity, some cell phones are now provided with capabilities for wirelessly accessing the Internet. Web phones, as they are sometimes called, are configured with wireless application protocol (WAP) for browsing and viewing web pages (or portions or reformatted versions thereof), for sending, receiving, and viewing email messages, and so forth.
Web phones have been available since the late 1990's yet have not been overly commercially successful. Drawbacks to web phones include the difficulty in reading the small screen on the phone, the difficulty in using the small keypad on the phone to enter data and control the Internet functions of the phone, and the increased weight and size of the phone from the added web access features.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a portable wireless device that permits instant communication and remote access to information, that is sufficiently small and lightweight that it can be conveniently carried around by a user on a routine basis, and that permits the user to easily enter information such as a web site address or an email message, to easily control the device to browse the web or send an email message, to easily view web pages and email messages, and to easily access information stored on a home or other remote computer.